Onnabugeisha Cowgirl

🌬️ This is one of the ways in which the Shadhili Sufi master Ibn 'Ajiba argues for the permissibility of sama' (spiritual audition). "Among the people is he who purchases idle discourse (lahw al-hadith) to lead others astray from the path of God without knowledge, and takes it in mockery." (Qur'an 31:6) Many invoked this verse to prohibit instruments, citing Ibn 'Abbas and Ibn Mas'ud's tafsir of lahw al-hadith as singing. How, then, did the Sufis reconcile this tafsir with the permissibility of sama'? 🌊 In Al-Bahr al-Madid fi Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Majid (The Ever-Extending Sea in the Exegesis of the Glorious Qur'an), Ibn 'Ajiba writes: "lahw al-hadith is everything that distracts one from Allah and turns one away from the Divine Presence, whatever it may be, whether singing or anything else. But if singing stirs one to the remembrance of Allah and moves the spirit towards the Divine Presence, it is sound and true; but if it stirs one towards the desires of the lower self (nafs), it is false and vain. The upshot is that sama' is, among the Sufis, one of the pillars of the spiritual Path, subject to its three conditions: time, place and brethren. Al-Ghazali writes in Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), while discussing the arguments of those who prohibit sama': 'They adduced the saying of Allah Most High: “Among mankind is he who purchases idle discourse”, and Ibn Mas'ud, al-Nakha'i and al-Hasan held that this refers to singing.' He then gives an answer whose substance is as follows: 'It is forbidden only when it is adopted as a substitute for religion. Not every form of singing is a substitute for religion, purchased in its place, or something that leads people astray from the Path of Allah. Were someone to recite the Qur'an in order to lead people astray from the Path of Allah, that too would be forbidden. It is related that one of the hypocrites used to lead the people in prayer, reciting no chapter other than 'Abasa, because it contains a reproach directed at the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Umar was on the verge of killing him. Thus, leading people astray through poetry and singing is all the more deserving of prohibition. As for when none of these things is present, it is not forbidden." And in Qut al-Qulub (The Nourishment of Hearts), in the Book of Love, he [Abu Talib al-Makki] writes: 'The people of the Hijaz, in our time in Mecca, have never ceased to listen to sama' during the finest days of the year, namely the numbered days in which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, commanded His servants to remember Him: the Days of Tashriq. This practice has continued from the time of Ata' ibn Abi Rabah until our own day. No scholar has ever objected to it. Ata' had two singing slave-girls, and his brethren would listen to them. The people of Medina, likewise, have continued in agreement with the people of Mecca concerning sama' down to our own time. We ourselves encountered Abu Marwan the Judge, who had singing slave-girls whom he had prepared for the circumambulators. He would gather them together for the pilgrims and instruct them to sing. He was a man of great virtue. Our master Abu al-Hasan ibn Salim was asked: 'You condemn sama', yet Junayd, Sari al-Saqati and Dhu al-Nun used to listen to it?' He replied: 'How could I condemn sama', when one better than I permitted it and listened to it?'' Ibn Luyun al-Tujibi writes in Al-Inala (The Bestowal): 'It is related from Mus'ab ibn al-Zubayr that he said: 'I attended Malik's gathering, and Abu Mus'ab asked him about sama'. Malik replied: 'I do not know, except that the people of knowledge in our city do not condemn it, nor do they abstain from it. None condemns it save an ignorant fool.''" (IDK the strength of that last one and it does contradict the famous "only the openly sinful (fussaq) among us do this [singing]." - Celebration Outside thr Mosque Of Sidi Boumediene [Abu Madyan] (1898) by Gustavo Simoni 🌷